I was adamant from the outset that Sam on the balcony, and later Dave up at The Green Centre, had to include artwork and specifically artwork made from urban junk.
The shape wasn’t immediately apparent. I just knew that it needed to be like that.
I already use found objects in my mixed media collages and include rusted and flattened bottle tops, ring pulls and assorted ephemera. Now it was time to make the art bigger, rustier and a heck of a lot more found.
As if by magic, Dave yielded up a whole treasure trove of goodies with a theme all of their own and the artwork part started to take shape at last. First, Richard dug up a small plastic number 9 from a long-lost front door.
I put this to one side and he carried on digging.
Three and a half house bricks followed and I put that on the junk pile. The next spade produced an ancient metal toy Aston Martin DB4 pitted with dirt and rust and minus the seats and tyres. It was when our friend George the Beetle appeared that I decided it was time for a sit down and a think.
“I think someone’s trying to tell us something,” I said to Richard in between slurps of tea.
Music has always played a huge part in my life. My earliest memories are of my mum singing along to the radio in the mid-Sixties. She had to call the local DJ every morning when I was small so he would play my favourite songs before I howled the house down.
My favourite band is The Beatles; thanks to them, I have my nickname of Georgy. Dave seems to like them too as he continued to throw up lyric references in the course of digging.
So now, the art theme is set.
Dave has four corners, one for each Beatle, and each corner will have a representative piece for various lyrics, each made out of junk found in the plot and secured on my travels in the city.
Motor cars, handle bars, bicycles for two
Broken hearted jubilee
Parachutes, army boots, sleeping bags for two
Sentimental jamboree
Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window
Why, why, says the junk in the yard
Candlesticks, building bricks, something old and new
Memories for you and me
Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window
Why, why, says the junk in the yard“Junk”, by Paul McCartney
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